Mitchell Returns to Mideast in Bid to Resolve Settlement Crisis

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Photographer: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. envoy George Mitchell flew to
Israel in a bid to keep Middle East peace talks from falling
apart as West Bank settlers for a second day began construction
of homes that were stalled for 10 months by government decree.

Mitchell was scheduled to reach Tel Aviv today and meet
tomorrow with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a
senior Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity
because the timetable wasn’t confirmed.

Netanyahu allowed a 10-month partial moratorium on
construction in the West Bank to expire on Sept. 26, enabling
settlers to start building houses again yesterday. Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who had said he could not
continue negotiations if settlement construction resumed, plans
to make a final decision after meeting with the Arab League on
Oct. 4.

“We’re very pleased that Prime Minister Netanyahu stayed
true to his word and didn’t bend to pressure to extend the
freeze,” said Adi Mintz, a leader of the Dolev settlement,
about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Tel Aviv, where residents
planned to start building a new neighborhood today. The main
street will be named after Netanyahu, he said.

State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley praised Abbas
yesterday for displaying “restraint” in the wake of the
resumption of building in the West Bank. Netanyahu said he’s
willing to continue contacts with the Palestinians during the
next few days to find a way to allow negotiations to go forward.

“We want to give the Americans four to five days, a week,
to see if they can get Mr. Netanyahu to seriously reconsider the
moratorium,” Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said yesterday
in an interview in Paris after the expiration of the building
moratorium declared 10 months ago by the Israeli prime minister.

‘Political Difficulties’

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Netanyahu
twice to no avail on Sept. 26, hours before the moratorium was
set to end.

Clinton and Netanyahu spoke again late yesterday. “They
are usually quite direct with each other,” Crowley told
reporters afterward, without describing the substance of the
conversation. “He understands what our policy is. We understand
his ongoing political difficulties.”

Most of the parties in Netanyahu’s governing coalition,
including his own Likud faction, support building in the
settlements.

In an effort to broaden peace efforts, Clinton conferred
yesterday with her Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem, in the
first meeting at that level between the countries since 2007.
Crowley said the Syrians are open to being included in talks on
improving Syrian-Israeli relations.

Talks On Hold

On the Palestinian-Israeli issue, Netanyahu faces pressure
from governments including the U.K. and France that have
expressed regret Israel didn’t extend the building freeze.

Israeli building crews began work yesterday at settlements
including Ariel, Oranit, Tekoa and Adam, according to Naftali
Bennett, director-general of the Yesha Council, which represents
more than 300,000 settlers in the West Bank.

The freeze, declared by Netanyahu in November in what he
said was a bid to bring Palestinians to the negotiating table,
excluded about 3,000 homes as well as some public buildings.

Israel has built about 120 settlements in the West Bank
since the late 1960s. Another 100 smaller settlements, which
Israel calls outposts, were built during the past decade.

The United Nations says the settlements are illegal, and
the International Committee of the Red Cross says they breach
the Fourth Geneva Convention governing actions on occupied
territory. President Barack Obama has said the settlements
aren’t legitimate.

Israel says the settlements don’t fall under the convention
because the territory wasn’t recognized as belonging to anyone
before the 1967 war, in which Israel prevailed, and therefore
isn’t occupied.